Canaries

Has anyone had one? There is a beautiful peach one at the spca. They have her by a drafty door and are eager to place her so I'm pondering.... I know they sing a lot. Is it all day? Are they quiet at night? What else? Do they need company?

I had one. But I was like... 5. As long as you cover them at night, they will be quiet. Whenever you cover them, they generally settle down. We had a canary + 2 budgies at the same time (ok technically the canary was my brothers and me and my sister each had a budgie), but they were all in different cages. We never really took out the canary or anything, if that's what you mean by company... it was pretty content just hanging in it's cage.

I had one growing up . Was in our sun room and sang all day ! Tiny was a joy . Didn't need company and when cage was covered at night he slept . In fact he saved my Mom's life . She always sat in the sun room knitting , reading or talking on the phone . She was about to fall asleep and she saw Tiny at the bottom of his cage feet up !! Yes , coal gas !!! She opened all windows and both were fine . Furnaces in the 40s could be deadly !!!

canary are fairly easy upkeep
they need to be kept in a good sized cage (the cages often sold for canaries are tiny, they are active little song birds who need some space.) with some interactive toys and lots of natural perches.
kept away from drafts, they like it bright but shouldnt be kept in direct sun either, they can overheat if in direct sunlight.

they are generally content being a lone bird, though kept in groups males will still sing.

they generally do NOT enjoy being handled (even if hand fed) some can become "tame" but most are simply "cage birds"

depending on the type of canary the voices are different, but most males will warble and sing all day, as soon as things start to go down the will settle for the night.

female canary dont sing much at all....and some males also do not sing! (a mirror will help encorage singing as will lots of bright light and a good cage setup)

their song isnt super loud, a canary will not generally bother neighbors ect, and most apartments will have no issues with a canary...
there not what i would consider "noisey" they make peeps cheeps, chirps and warbles, they do not scream like parrots do.

they should be given fresh water frequently, fed a good quality seed based diet (song birds are seed eaters. and red colored birds are usually given a red dyed food (like egg food) to keep their colors bright.

Do they do better in groups or are they content alone? This one is sooo pretty. And also, if you need a time-out during the day can you cover it and give it a nap or is that awful?? Lol I've never had a bird

Sorry I didn't see your post first. I would get a bigger cage then this one comes with. I'm pretty sure it's a female. And I'd put it in my office I think. There is a window in there but it's looking out over a covered balcony and doesn't get any direct sun at all. hmmm

After the age of 6 months, females will often be aggressive towards each other.

Also, as a cage requirement idea, the cage should be as large as you can get. Long, short cages are better than tall skinny cages, as height isn't a matter. The canary will fly to get their excercise. As a general guideline, at least 1 cubic foot per canary should be provided.

Well the cage she comes with is much bigger the one foot but I want to get her a bigger one anyway. IF I get her. I was actually thinking a small parrot cage since they spend so much time there. Good tip on the length vs height